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: 2017 Rhys "Alpine Vineyard" Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir

2017 Rhys "Alpine Vineyard" Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir

SKU #1490815 94 points Jeb Dunnuck

Outer quote mark The 2017 Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard comes from a mostly southwest-facing vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains (planted to a heritage selection of clones) and was brought up in a mix of new and used French oak. It offers a complex, nuanced style that carries lots of spiced red fruits, forest floor, smoked earth, potpourri, and a touch of sassafras and sagebrush. Complex, medium-bodied, silky, and beautifully balanced on the palate, it checks in behind the 2015 and 2016 but is nevertheless a beautiful, elegant, seamless Pinot Noir that's going to evolve nicely for over 10-15 years. Inner quote mark (10/2019)

94 points John Gilman

Outer quote mark The 2017 Alpine Vineyard bottling of pinot noir from Kevin Harvey, Jeff Brinkman and their team at Rhys is flat out gorgeous in this vintage. The bouquet is already hitting on all cylinders, wafting from the glass in a complex and elegant blend of black cherries, black plums, dark chocolate, complex soil tones, a touch of pigeon, lovely spice tones, a dollop of new wood and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is very pure, refined and full-bodied, with lovely sappiness down at the core, excellent mineral drive, blossoming complexity, fine-grained tannins and a long, vibrant and very classy finish. This is a great pinot noir in the making. 94+ Inner quote mark (7/2019)

93 points Allen Meadows - Burghound

Outer quote mark This too is markedly reserved and requires aggressive swirling to liberate the elegant and pure aromas of essence of red raspberry and beautifully spice and floral-scented nose. The middle weight flavors are not as concentrated or powerful as those of the Alpine Hillside yet they are much finer, indeed the word lilting comes to mind, while the dusty, focused and serious finish delivers excellent persistence. This is a wine of finesse and refinement and about the only reproach is that more depth needs to develop with time in bottle. If elegance is what you search for in fine pinot, look no further. *Outstanding* Inner quote mark (1/2020)

92 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Outer quote mark The 2017 Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard is pale to medium ruby-purple and scented of woodsmoke, dried herbs, moss-covered bark, peppered meats, black cherries and blackberries with potpourri, nutmeg and blue fruit hints. The palate is light to medium-bodied with a silky texture and earthy fruits, supported with finely grained tannins and juicy acidity, finishing long and spicy. (EB) Inner quote mark (2/2020)

92 points Vinous

Outer quote mark The 2017 Pinot Noir Alpine Vineyard is soft, open-knit and absolutely delicious. Crushed flowers, mint, blood orange, crushed red berries, chalk and white pepper are all very nicely lifted. The 2017 is airy and gracious, with lovely aromatic lift and tons of personality. The 2017 is especially suave. It is another pretty wine, very much in the lighter style of the year. (AG) Inner quote mark (10/2019)

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2017 Rhys "Alpine Vineyard" Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir

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Varietal:

Pinot Noir

- One of France's most legendary grapes and the grape that earned Burgundy its reputation. The parent of varietals like Pinot Gris/Grigio and Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir is blue to violet to indigo in color with relatively thin skins, and it is said to have been cultivated in France for more than 2,000 years. At its best, Pinot Noir creates elegant wines that are filled with primary red fruit aromas and flavors while young, revealing with an array of secondary characteristics like earth, smoke, violet, truffle and game with age. The varietal is also known, perhaps better than any, for its ability to translate terroir, or a sense of place. While the best Pinot Noir still comes from Burgundy, it is being produced with increasing success in cooler climates around the world. In France, it is part of the trifecta of grapes that can go into Champagne, and it is also grown in Alsace, Irancy, Jura, Savoie, Lorraine and Sancerre. Outside of France it is produced under the names Pinot Nero and Blauburgunder in Italy's mountainous regions, as Spätburgunder in Germany and as Blauburgunder in Austria. In the US, Pinot Noir has found suitable growing conditions in the cooler parts of California, including Carneros, the Russian River Valley, the Anderson Valley, the Sonoma Coast, Monterey County, the Santa Lucia Highlands and Santa Barbara County, as well as in Oregon's Willamette Valley. In recent years, New Zealand has demonstrated its ability to interpret this hard-to-grow varietal, with successful bottlings coming from careful and attentive growers in Central Otago, Martinborough and Canterbury. Chile is also an up-and-coming region for Pinot Noir, creating fresh, fruit-forward, early-drinking and affordable Pinots from the coastal Casablanca Valley and the Limari Valley.

Country:

United States

- When people consider domestic wine, they normally think about the state of California. The fine viticultural Region within California, including the Napa Valley, Sonoma, Santa Cruz Mountains, Mendocino and Santa Barbara, are capable of growing grapes of world-class quality. But there's plenty of fabulous wine coming from other states, too. Oregon, Washington and New York are also causing eyebrows (and glassware) to be raised around the world.

Sub-Region:

California

- With the explosive growth that California's wine industry has seen the past several years, it's easy to view winemaking and grape growing in the Golden State as a recent phenomenon. And while it's true that California's viticultural history is brief compared to several European countries, this state's roots date back well over 200 years. Due to the enormous response to California wine within the United States and worldwide, there are thousands of excellent and diverse wines being produced within the state each year.

Specific Appellation:

Santa Cruz Mountains

- Vineyards dot the valleys and ridges of this coastal AVA just south of San Francisco. Microclimates make it difficult to generalize, and vineyards are frequently separated by acres of forests and meadowlands (not to mention entire towns!), but this is nonetheless known as a cooler-climate zone ideal for pinot noir. Ridge is doubtless the most famous local producer, with its cabernet blend, Monte Bello, named after a Santa Cruz mountain peak. High-quality, low-production chardonnay and some Rhône varietals prosper as well.